A cooled avalanche photodiode detector for X-ray magnetic diffraction experiments

A cooled avalanche photodiode (APD) detector was developed for X-ray magnetic diffraction experiments. A stack of four silicon APDs was cooled down to 243 K by a thermoelectric cooler. The energy widths of 0.89 and 1.55 keV (FWHM) were obtained for 8.05 keV X-rays at 1×10 ⁶ s ^-1 and for 16.53 keV X-rays at 2×10 ⁶ s ^-1, respectively. Test measurements of X-ray magnetic diffraction were executed using a terbium single crystal and white synchrotron radiation. A peak width of (1 0 3) reflection (5.4 keV) was roughly three times wider than that with a high-purity germanium detector.